I was walking through Costco earlier this evening and of course I just so happened to walk through the meat department. As I was looking at some of the steaks I saw something interesting on the labels about blade tenderized steaks. I had seen it before and have read a few articles about it but thought it was a good time to share it with you.
The labels on these steaks said “Blade Tenderized. For your safety USDA recommends grilling product to a minimum internal temperature of 160 degrees as measured by a food thermometer”. It is kind of small print and if you aren’t looking for it you probably won’t see it. So why is that a big deal? Quite a few reasons…
When you have a steak any bacteria will be on the outside of the steak. That is why you are perfectly fine eating a rare steak as long as the outside is seared. The searing process (and salting the steak) will kill any bacteria on the outside of the steak. With blade tenderizing though there are hundreds of small blades that pierce the meat possibly taking the bacteria that is on the outside of the steak and pushing it into the middle of the steak. That is why there is a warning to cook these blade tenderized steaks to 160 degrees.
160 degrees is well beyond the temperature most people like their steaks. At 160 degrees you will pretty much have a well done steak that will be dry and chewy no matter what cut it is.
Also, these labels I saw were on some very nice prime steaks. Why would you need to blade tenderize a prime cap of ribeye which is one of the most delicious and tender cuts you can get? I can see tenderizing a round steak or something tough like that but there should be no reason to tenderize a quality steak. I saw these labels on prime NY strips, prime ribeyes, and non-prime versions of those steaks as well. Not every cut of meat at Costco is blade tenderized though. The flank steaks and filets were fine and I am pretty sure the sub-primals are OK as well but I would double check to make sure.
What is blade tenderization? Here is a quick video from ConsumerReports.org:
When you blade tenderize a steak you now need to treat the steak cooking-wise almost like ground beef. Since ground beef has so much more surface area and has come in contact with grinders and all the other handling equipment there is a much greater chance of some sort of food born illness (usually e. coli) than you would get with a steak. That is why it is recommended you cook ground beef to 160 degrees. Blade tenderizing in a commercial setting is opening the steak up to all kinds of bad things.
Sure, you can blade tenderize at home where you have more control over the sterilization of the tenderizer and know how the meat has been handled but there is pretty much no conceivable reason for Costco to be blade tenderizing these steaks. For a cheap cut of meat blade tenderizing can definitely improve the tenderness of the steak but again, for a good cut there is no reason to do this.
Will you get sick from a blade tenderized steak?
Chances are you can eat rare blade tenderized steaks every day and never get sick. But if you want your eyes to glaze over while reading a scientific study about how the blade tenderizing contaminates the interior of the meat here you go: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/19044260/ . You would be just fine with these steaks and I am not saying I will never eat a steak from Costco again but it is always good to know about what you are eating. I know I will be buying fewer steaks from Costco, especially the blade tenderized ones, in the future.
Also keep in mind that in the US it isn’t mandatory for stores to label their meat as blade tenderized. So it is possible that your local grocery is selling blade tenderized steaks as well. Ask the butcher the next time you buy steaks and see what he says.
